Hotokegaura, a 2-km-long chain of huge rocks of tuff and unusual shapes created by undersea volcanic eruptions and upheaval of geological strata, is said to have been formed about 20 million years ago. Each rock is named after a Buddha, such as “Nyorai no Neck,” “Five Hundred Arhats,” “Hitotsubutsu Buddha,” and “Gokuraku Hama,” as the name of the area suggests, and the world is reminiscent of the Pure Land of Paradise. One gets the feeling that dinosaurs could appear at any moment, or that Star Wars filming could begin.
Sometimes there are beautiful round holes in strange places in the middle of the rocks, wild flowers, narrow crevices, and roofs that look like they were made to shelter from the rain, making you wonder how this formative beauty came to be, and the mind boggles at the passage of time.

The clarity of the sea is so high that schools of fish and projections of sea urchins can be clearly seen when peering into the water from above.
The contrast between the clear emerald green sea and the white rocks is truly a mystical sight, as in the poem “The work of God, the handiwork of demons, Hotokegaura, a place not of this world” by the great writer Yoshizuki Omachi.
You can walk to Hotokegaura along the promenade, but as it is a steep slope with an elevation difference of 100 m, sightseeing by boat is recommended. The view is so spectacular that for a moment you may think you cannot return to where you came from, creating the illusion of a parallel world.